Stories from Friday, March 11, 1994

To the editor: Give me room, lots of room beneath the star-ry skies above. So goes the song "Don't fence me in." This song should be every cigarette smokers' theme song for the nineties. Beneath the star-ry skies above is about the only place left a smoker can enjoy this vice and perhaps the last straw of independence that broke the camels "pack", I mean back. ...

Is the work done at this newspaper difficult, burdensome, even trying? Get serious. It's blue birds and lemonade from the moment we get here until the moment we leave. Pleasant people, pleasant occasions. Then, there are the stories ... scads of stories, a bounty. There are more than can be done by folks who require an occasional nap, a meal not eaten from a sack, some semblance of family life and a participatory disposition with regard to wage and hour mandates...

We're trained to be studious pupils, suitable workers, champion athletes and even creative in our spare time. But far too often we're not trained for the most important job of all -- that of husband and wife, mother and father. That's the thought behind a program called "Dad the Family Shepherd." It's a men's conference sponsored by the Christian Businessmen's Committee (CBC) tonight and Saturday. ...

Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody and a host of other characters visited students at Trinity Lutheran School Thursday through the talents of storyteller and impersonator Bert Minkin. He visited classrooms as part of national Lutheran Schools Week activities at Trinity...

Authorities in the field of horticulture will highlight the program of a public garden symposium to be held at the Area Vocational-Technical School Saturday. The Jackson Men's Garden Club -- which also includes women -- will present the symposium beginning at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 4:30 p.m...

Teams from Wentzville, Benton, Ill. and Sikeston captured top honors in the 12th annual Chemistry Bowl held Thursday on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. Approximately 190 students representing 28 schools participated. The competition consisted of a 35-question multiple choice test and two laboratory exercises...

JACKSON -- Dozens of area residents along with city and county officials were on hand Thursday to tell representatives of the Missouri State Highway Commission what they think about the proposed changes in roads throughout the region. The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department District 10 office hosted its third annual public meeting in Jackson to explain the 1994 highway construction and improvement program in Southeast Missouri, from St. Francois County to the Bootheel...

Cape Girardeau City Engineer Kensey Russell sees a direct connection between aggressive sewer construction and new street construction. "Build in one area and growth in the other usually follows," said Russell, who has the statistics to back up such a claim. ...

SCOTT CITY -- When the lease on the building currently occupied by the Scott City Library expires on April 30, the books and the librarian may be moved across town. The library, currently housed in a building on Second Street East in Scott City, may be moved to the Tupperware Home Parties Building, at 2106 Main St...

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee will be the guest speaker Saturday night at the annual Cape County Republican Lincoln Day, sponsored by the county GOP women's club. Huckabee won a special election for lieutenant governor in 1993, becoming one of only four Republicans elected to statewide office in Arkansas in 150 years. He is a native of Hope, Ark. the birthplace of President Bill Clinton...

Trans World Express Airlines, the commercial carrier that serves the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport, has announced its "Spring Break Getaway Giveaway" promotion. Anyone who flies out of Cape Girardeau between March 3 and April 10 will be eligible for two free airline tickets for anywhere Trans World Airlines flies domestically, excluding Hawaii...

JACKSON - With the filing Thursday of David Patterson, a three-way race has now developed in the Aug. 2 Republican primary for Cape Girardeau County 2nd district associate commissioner. A retired financial executive, Patterson said his primary goal if elected would be to work with the other commissioners to continue the financial policies established by Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep and his associates...

BENTON -- It's not easy getting re-elected. Most Scott County officeholders face opposition in their re-election bids. With several weeks to go before the filing period ends, only County Collector Tom Marshall and Treasurer H.J. "Cotton" Holyfield are unopposed for re-election...

The Missouri Federation of Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) will hold its 30th annual convention Saturday at Cape Girardeau's Holiday Inn Convention Center. The event begins at noon, and will conclude at 7 p.m.. It features sessions led by Herbert J. Arkebauer, a professor of speech and hearing science at Southwest Missouri State University and an AAL board members, and John F. Johnson Jr., president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis...

DELTA -- Virgil D. Fowler, 83, of Delta, died Wednesday, March 9, 1994, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 21, 1910, at Zalma, son of Logan and Ira Killian Fowler. He and Thelma Watson were married Aug. 27, 1929, in Advance...

BERTRAND -- Florence Mae Busby, 78, of Bertrand, died Wednesday, March 9, 1994, at Bertrand Nursing Facility. She was born May 16, 1915, in Mississippi County, daughter of John and Minnie Potter Bibb. She and Paul Busby were married Dec. 24, 1931. He died Jan. 20, 1991...

ADVANCE -- Fay E. Vermilya, 85, of Malden, died Thursday, March 10, 1994, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Nov. 20, 1908, at Malden, daughter of Henry and Etta Ballard Heck. She first married William Duba in 1925, who died Aug. 1, 1955. She later married LeRoy Vermilya July 2, 1970...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Franklin Scott Mainord Sr. of East Prairie will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Chapel here. Pastor Dave Bowden and Martin Lucas will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery. Mainord, 77, died Tuesday, March 8, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston...

EAST PRAIRIE -- Ruth M. Copeland, 78, of East Prairie, died Wednesday, March 9, 1994, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born Nov. 22, 1915, in Darden, Tenn., daughter of John R. and Sue Carrington Davis. She and Clyde Copeland were married May 20, 1960...

Son to Mr. and Mrs. Pat Fosse of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Hospital, 7:39 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, 1994. Name, Nicholas John. Weight, 7 pounds 14 ounces. First child. Mrs. Fosse is the former Jane Scherer, daughter of Theon and Leona Scherer of Scott City. She is a registered radiologic technologist at St. Francis Medical Center. Fosse is special procedures technologist at Southeast Hospital, and is the son of Loren and Mary Fosse of Marion, Ill...

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 At 5:20 a.m Thursday, firefighters responded to 320 N. Frederick for medical assistance. At 7:47 a.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to 545 S. Benton for medical assistance. At 11:42 a.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to 120 N. Kingshighway for medical assistance...

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri Conservation Commission will meet today at Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) headquarters here, starting at 10:30 a.m. Commissioners are Jerry P. Combs, Kennett, chairman; Andy Dalton, Springfield, vice chairman; John Powell, Rolla, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, member...

ST. LOUIS - Biologists are releasing 8,000 pallid sturgeons into the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in an effort to find out why the fish is sliding toward extinction. The pallid sturgeon was listed as endangered in 1990, triggering a national effort by conservation officials in 13 states to rescue a species that has outlived the dinosaur. The sturgeons were released at three sites on the Missouri below Hermann, and six on the Mississippi downstream from St. Louis...

Southeast Missouri State University's agriculture department will host the 1994 District Future Farmers of America (FFA) Contests March 15 and March 18-19. About 700 students and 275 teams will participate in the events, which will begin March 15 in Bloomfield, with students competing in agricultural mechanics and agricultural sales. These contests are scheduled for 4 p.m...